A KERRY priest has told how he has observed a growing frustration in his parish and elsewhere with people fearing that there will be no end to the Covid-19 lockdown.
Fr Kevin McNamara said spring may have arrived but the lockdown, with all its rules and regulations, seems to be getting more burdensome.
Many people are losing focus when it comes to continuing to personally adhere to HSE guidelines and everyone seems to be looking at everyone else to make sure the guidelines are kept, he maintained.
Fr McNamara has asked the public to examine their own contribution and, when it comes to the stay safe guidelines, to practice what they preach.
“I strongly suggest that it is time for every one of us to put integrity into practice. Integrity is doing the right thing when nobody is watching. The opposite is hypocrisy, pretending to be somebody you are not,” he said.
Writing in the parish newsletter in Moyvane, where he has been based since being transferred from the Killarney parish, Fr McNamara remarked: “Integrity means being a person with only one face – not two faced – a person who is the same on the inside as the outside”.
He added: “Integrity is a combination of honesty, high morals, uprightness, single mindedness and always treating others with respect. People will doubt what you say but they will always believe what you do.”
Fr McNamara also noted that there has been unanimous feeling among all his parishioners that the past year has been a difficult and traumatic time for all so many funerals and he described the limit of 10 people that can attend Requiem Masses as regrettable.
“Thank God all the celebrations for those who have died went off with great dignity and respect,” he said.
But the popular priest has urged the government to review that 10-person limit, especially where churches have the capacity to safely take 20 to 25 while maintaining all the guidelines.
“I wish to thank all families for their cooperation and equally our undertakers who have been most helpful to all the families concerned, to our church stewards and to myself,” Fr McNamara said.
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